Breech-loading ordnance



(No Model.)

A. H. RUSSELL. Breeoh Loading Ordnan0e-- No. 236,363. Patented1an.4,18s1.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW H. RUSSELL, OF WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.

BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,363, dated January 4, 1881.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANDREW H. RUssELL, of lvatertown, in the county ofMiddleseX and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Guns, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the French system of fermeture7 so known. Under this system the breech is open in the axial line of the bore of the gun, and is screw-threaded, and constructed together with a correspondinglythreaded screw-plugfor thelatter to be directly inserted within the screw-threaded chamber of the breech, and then, by being turned therein, engaged and interlocked against accidental movement and escape. ln the use ofthis system of fermeture it is customary, in the loading of the gun, to cover the screw-thread of the threaded breech with what is known as a pan or api-on, so that no injury can come to the thread ofthe breech as the projectile is inserted, which pan, after the projectile is inserted, is removed, and then the breech-plug inserted and turned, and, thus locked, closing the breech.

The main purpose of this invention is to obviate the necessity ofthe removal of the pan or apron protector to the screw-threaded breech before the breech-plug can be inserted; and to that end it consists ot' a pan or apron so constructed in itself and in combination with the breech-plug as not only to give the necessary and desired protection to the threaded breech when the projectile is being inserted, but, when the breech-plug is inserted, to interlock with and become a part of it and turn with it as it is turned to lock it in place and against accidental movement and escape, all substantially as hereinafter described.

In addition to the above,thisinventiouconsists in mechanism for holding or locking thel pan against accidental movement within and escape from the breech as the, projectile is inserted, and in a. construction of the breechplug` to automatically unlock the, pan as it is inserted, so that it may turn with the breechplug, as before stated, all substantially as hereinafter described.

1n the accompanying plate of drawings my improvementsin breech-loadii'ig guns are illust-rated, Figure l being a View, in perspective,

at the breech and open end of the gun, with the pan and breech-plug detached 5 and Figs. 2

and 3, respectively, perspective views of the pau and breech-plug removed; Fig. 4, a longitudinal vertical section through the axial line of the bore of the gun, showing thebreechplug and pan in their position before the plug is turned to lock it inthe breech Figs. 5 and 6, cross-sections on line .r Fig. 4, the one with the breech-plug and pan in the position shown in Fig. 4, and the other with the breechplug and pan after being turned to lock the plug in position within the breech; Fig. 7, a longitudinal vertical section through the axial line ofthe bore of the gun, showing the pan constructed to be held or locked against accidental movement within and escape from the breech, and the breech-plug as constructed to automatically unlock the pan as itis inserted; and Fig. S is an end view ofthe same.

ln the drawings, A represents the breech portion of a gun. This breech is open at its rear end, a, along the axial line of the bore ofthe gun, and it has a female screw-thread, I), which is cut out in parallel lines, making squaresided channels c, which run in the length of the bore, leaving sections d ofthe screw-thread between the channels c, one of which sections is at and along the lower-most part of the breech-opening.

B is the breech-plug. This breech-plug has a male scre\vtlnead,f, corresponding to the female screw-thread b of the breech-opening, and along its length portions of its screwthread are cut out, as at g, corresponding in position to the threaded sections d of the breech-chamber, the whole so that the plug can be inserted directly within the breechopening,andthen,bybeingturned,itsthreaded portions interlocked with the threaded portions of the breech, and thus the plug locked and secured in place, all as heretofore in the French system of fermeture.

h is the pan or apron. This pan or apron covers the lowermost threaded section of the breech-opening, and, as shown in Fig. 3, it is provided with a screw-thread corresponding to the screw-thread of the breech-opening. ln addition to this it is shaped to f1t within one of the cnt-out portions g of the screw-threaded breech-plug B, and thus it is adapted to be interlocked and engaged therewith. This pan or yhave a screw-thread to tit-the threaded breech,

jectile and of the breech-plug, while at. the

apron, placed as described, obviously protects the screw-threaded breech in its portion covered b V it from injury when a projectile is inserted; and again, when the breech-plug is atterward inserted, itinterlocks with the breech plug, so that when the breech-plug is turned to unlock it, as ordinarily, the pan or apron moves with it, and, in substance, as it' in one part and piece with it, (the breechpluo.) It is thus seen that the necessity ot' removing the pau at'ter the projectile is inserted and before the breech-plug can be inserted is wholly obviated. This pan or apron may or may not it being shown without such a thread in Fig?.

In Fig. 7, Z is a spring-catch, situated atthe outer end ofthe pan, and there arranged and adapted to interlock with a notch, m, at the end ot' the breech. This spring-catch l holds the pau from rolling within the open breech as the projectile and ln'eech-plug are. inserted.

n is a radial tlange or projection at the outer end ot' the ln'eech-plug,and in position thereon to abut against the spring-catch I, and thus release its hold ot' the pan when the breechplug is inserted within the breech. By this` means the pan is automaticzitlly rele; sed to the turning movement ot' the breech-plug.

0 02 are tlanger at each end ot' the pan. By one, 0,0t' these tia-tiges the inner end ot' the pan interlocks with the screw-threaded breech at its innermost end, it being there suitably and correspondingly constructed therefor. vThe other tlange, 02, fits over and lies against the outer face otl the end ot' the breech, and thus by it and the inner interlocking flange, 0, the pan is held from movement along the length ot4 the breech during the insertion ot" the prosame time the)Y offer no obstruction to the turningot' the pan with the breech-plugasthe latter is turned.

It is obvious from the within description of the pan lL and its arrangement in relation to the breech-opening` and breech-plug, that when the plug is out the pan can be readily and easily removed and replaced at pleasure, and, further, that when in place not only does ity serve as a guard to the threaded portion of the brewzh-opening which it covers, but it acts as a guide and bed on which to slide the prot jectile into place, and thus obviates all possibility ot'inj u ry to the rem aiuing screw-threaded portions ot' tite breech-opening.

The locking ot' the pan against turning, sub stantial ly as herein described, may be employed either with or without a construction of the pan and ot' the breech-plug to interlock the two, so as to turn as one when the breech-plug is turned to lock it in place, and the same is true as to the interlocking ot` the pan with the breech-opening to secure it against longitudinal movement therein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination,in abreech-loadiug gun, of a breech, A, and a breech-block, B, each constructed with a sectional screwthread,substantially z s described, with a pan or apron, /1.,serving asa guard t'or a portion ofthe screwthreaded breech, and constructed to interlock and rotate with the breechfblock when the latter is screwed into the breech-piece, essentially as set t'orth.

2. The combination, in a breech-loading gun, ot' a breech, A, having an internal sectional screw-thread, a breech-block, B, having au external sectional screw thread, a pan or apron, h, serving as a guard for a portion ot' the screw-thread in the breech, and mechanism operated t'rom the exterior of the breech t'or locking the pan in position to prevent it from turning as the projectileis inserted,snb stantially as described.

3. rIhe combination, in a breech-loading gun, ot' thel sectionally screw-threaded breech A, the sectionally screw-threaded breech-block B, the apron or pan lt, constructed to set over a portion ot' the screw-thread in the breech, and mechanism, substantially as described, for automatically locking and unlocking the apron or pan by the movement ot' the breech block, essentially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereot' I have hereunto set my hand in the presence otl two subscribing witnesses.

ANDREW l1. RUSSELL.

Witnesses:

ALBERT XV. BRoWN, WM. S. BnLLows. 

